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Encyclopedia > East African Oryx
East African Oryx
Conservation status: Lower Risk (cd)

East African Oryx
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Hippotraginae
Genus: Oryx
Species: beisa
Binomial name
Oryx beisa
Rüppell, 1835


The East African Oryx (Oryx beisa, also known as the Beisa Oryx) found in steppe and semi-desert throughout the Horn of Africa and in parts of Tanzania. Some taxonimists make it a sub-species of the Gemsbok (Oryx gazella).


East African Oryx stand just over a metre at the shoulder and weight around 175 kilograms. They have a grey coat with a white underside, seperated from the grey by a stripe of black, there are also black stripes where the head attaches to the neck, along the nose and from the eye to the mouth and on the forehead. There is a small chestnut coloured mane. The ringed horns are thin and straight. They are found on both sexes and typically reach a metre or more.


East African Oryx live in semi-desert and steppes where they eat grass, leaves, fruit and buds. East African Oryx are able to store water by raising their body temperature (So as to avoid perspiration). They gather in herds of five to forty animals with a cow leading and an alpha male guarding from the rare. Older males are solitary, presumably to avoid burdening their group.

Oryx
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Oryx

  Results from FactBites:
 
AllRefer.com - oryx (Vertebrate Zoology) - Encyclopedia (329 words)
Oryxes are light in color with dark patches on the face and legs.
The E African variety is smaller, with shorter horns, and is called the beisa.
The Arabian oryxes once ranged over the deserts of SW Asia and were hunted by nomads for flesh and hides.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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